Consuming peanuts regularly between the ages of 4 months and 5 years could be the solution to protect against peanut allergies. This is the conclusion of a study published in the American journal New England Journal of Medicine. This is presented as the result of a first clinical trial which showed that the allergy rate was reduced by 81% in children at risk.
The researchers wanted to know if this protective effect was really lasting. To do this, they followed 556 children out of the 640 in the panel who had participated in the first trial. After twelve months without having eaten peanuts, they realized that the children who had eaten them very early were like “immune”.
4.8% of children who initially consumed peanuts became allergic while 18.6% of those who had avoided eating them as a precaution became allergic.
Long-lasting protection
“Starting to consume peanuts very early in childhood provides long-lasting protection against the development of allergies in individuals at risk”, explains Dr Gideon Lack of Kings College London (UK), lead author of the study, cited by AFP.
Peanut allergy is one of the most common allergies in children over 3 years old.
People who are allergic to peanuts may suffer from more or less severe symptoms (rhinitis, hives, swelling of the face, shortness of breath, drop in blood pressure).
Read also: Peanuts reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease
Peanut allergy: discovered from a treatment
